Rye, Blind Brook Win Awards At Mobile App Development Bowl

KanjiStick from New School’s Parsons School of Design was the Grand Prize winning team. From left, County Executive Rob Astorino; Team KanjiStick; Kevin McGuire, Commissioner of Westchester Department of Social Services, and and Dr. Jonathan Hill.
Photo Credit: Contributed

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A team from The New School’s Parsons School of Design took home top honors at the 3rd Annual #WestchesterSmart Mobile App Development Bowl where more than 440 students from throughout the area competed over three months to create mobile apps that improve the lives of the elderly.

This year’s App Bowl, the largest since its inception, attracted competitors from the New York Metropolitan area and beyond. Teams from eight high schools and colleges, including Mamaroneck High School, Blind Brook High School and Pace University, took home cash awards. Four teams from Westchester County won tours of YouTube’s studios and a visit with Google’s top engineers in New York City.

County Executive Robert P. Astorino presented the awards on Friday, April 28, at a ceremony at Pace University’s Pleasantville campus. Pace’s Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems is the co-sponsor of this annual competition. Mobile apps covered such areas from health and memory to finance and transportation.

“The #WestchesterSmart Mobile App Development Bowl sends a strong statement to our students – as well as our communities and businesses – that Westchester is a place where smart things are happening,” Astorino said. “We’re on the cutting edge of so many industries, from healthcare to information technology to biotech and more. That is why we sponsor competitions like the Mobile App Development Bowl. We want to make sure everyone knows that Westchester is a place where your talents can be developed, showcased and rewarded.”

The winning team – KanjiStick from The New School’s Parsons School of Design in New York City – created an app that serves as a “one-stop shop” to help seniors resolve issues commonly faced when dealing with technology. The team found that the most common issues fit into three broad categories: problems with vision, problems with hearing, and problems with dexterity.

“Seniors rely on the younger generation to help them with technology,” the team said in its presentation to judges. “Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way in which seniors could use their mobile devices without consulting others?”

A team from Mamaroneck High School earned first place in the Creativity Award category, which was judged on its content, design, technological innovation and the unique nature of their underlying idea. A team from Blind Brook High School won the Usability Award by meeting the needs of the end user and providing easy navigation. A team from Mahwah High School in New Jersey won the Functionality Award for best providing and verifying app content as displayed on an actual mobile device. (A full list of winners is below).

The App Bowl kicked off with a pep rally at the Westchester County Center in February and was followed by a series of workshops that focused on developing the technical skills of design and coding for mobile devices. The completed apps will be available for download via the Apple Store and/or the Google Play Store.

“Once again, we are blown away by the talent of the students who participate in the Westchester Smart Mobile App Development Bowl,” said Jonathan Hill, dean of the Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems at Pace. “Their work will improve the quality of life for older citizens throughout the area, helping them do everyday tasks and manage their lives better. This event grows every year and we hope to see even more student app developers next year.”

2017 #WestchesterSmart Mobile App Development Bowl Awards:

Grand Prize: The #WestchesterSmart Award

$1,000 cash award; two smartphones

KanjiStick, The New School’s Parsons School of Design, New York City

In addition to the grand prize, cash prizes of $500, $350 and $150 were awarded in four different categories:

The Mobile App Creativity Award

First Place: Memora

Mamaroneck High School, Mamaroneck

Second Place: Run DMR

Pace University, Pleasantville & New York City

Third Place: Team Wizdom

Mamaroneck High School, Mamaroneck

The Mobile App Usability Award

First Place: Blind Brook Computer Club

Blind Brook High School, Blind Brook

Second Place: Qwerty

Pace University, Pleasantville & New York City

Third Place: Forge Connections

Rye High School, Rye

The Mobile App Functionality Award

First Place: Free Wifi

Mahwah High School, Mahwah, NJ

Second Place: Bice

Pace University, Pleasantville & New York City

Third Place: Programmers Box

Pace University, Pleasantville & New York City

YouTube Social Challenge Winners

Winners will visit Google, meet with top engineers, and tour the YouTube Studios in New York City

The Mobile App Bowl was made possible by the following sponsors: Acorda Therapeutics; The Bristal Assisted Living; ConEdison; Liberty Lines; NewYork-Presbyterian; Saberpoint, LLC; Sal’s Pizza; XL Catlin; Westchester County Office of Economic Development and Pace University and its alumni, including Ursuline Foley ’91, Nancy Goodman '77 and Virginia Letourneau '85.

The following schools participated in the #WestchesterSmart Mobile App Development Bowl: